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An Awful Product.

I purchased this as a replacement for my trusty old Kenwood processor that gave up the go after years and years of frequent use. At first sight the reviews made it look like i had bagged a bargain although it was a little smaller than my old one it looked pretty smart compared to my trusty Kenwood. And it also had a liquidizer which my old one didn't. The liquidizer is pretty useless considering if you fill it over half way it never went fully smooth. The Blades only seemed to move up to half way. It made a horrible whining noise and overheated i simply think its way underpowered for the price you pay. The processor side seemed to struggle to make bread crumbs and chop vegetables which the old one did without second thought. You get loads of tiny bits that you have to find room to store and my processor gave up after about a year of use , the liquidizer still works but not very well. I'm in the process ( PARDON THE PUN ) Of finding another one and i certainly wont be using a Kenwood again

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This is a good price piece of kit but maybe shows you get what you pay for. Not recommended

Being someone who loves my cooking and being able to know what ingredients go into my food (the chemicals and ingredients you put in are going to affect what you get out in terms of your mood) I decided it was about time I got myself a food processor so I could do my own sauces. I felt it would be best to go for a named brand so that I knew it would be easy to use and last but was this really a good decision?

Pros:Kenwood is a very well known and trusted brand when it comes to kitchen appliances so you know that your product comes from those who have experience and have built up their name over the years.This is a great looking food processor so will not cause your kitchen to look cluttered if it is left setup on the counter top at all times.A 1 litre liquidiser and a 1.4 litre bowl for your normal food processing needs mean that this is multi functional and gives an ok capacity for a couple and their normal home use.Stainless steel blades and a 600w motor mean that this is a piece of kit that will do an good job of preparing your food.The food processor is lightweight so easy to move around if and when needed. The processor also has suction cups on the bottom to ensure that this remains steady and secure on the worktop when in use.The processor is a good price for one with a liquidiser added to the standard food processor bowl and when you know you are getting a brand name then this gives a feeling of confidence.

Negatives:When in use this will automatically have both the liquidiser and the standard food processor bowl running which means that you are wasting money and burning out your motor quicker.The processor has to have the food processor bowl turned and held in place as if it is not it can jump out of the locked position required for this to run.The food processor is fairly noisy and part of this is due to the fact you have to have both parts of the unit on no matter whether you are using them both or not.

Overall this is a food processor I would not be able to recommend or honestly say I would buy again. The processor unit has a good enough motor but when you are having to run a food processor unit and a liquidiser at the same time (no matter if you are using just one or not) then that motor is not going to take too long until it is going to burn out. My wife and I have had ours for a while but don't use it a huge amount and it is beginning to smell like the motor is burning out after a short time of being switched on so for those who would use this regularly I have to say it is not likely it would last too long. Having to stand and hold something in to a lock position whilst I am trying to prepare food is something I did not expect and something I find to be highly frustrating as it means that you are tied to using just this rather than being able to work with other utensils or appliances and so this makes your cooking process longer than it needs to be. Overall a great look but poor functionality make this an unrealistic product.

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Good looks but no functionality

I got this on special offer at half price at just under £50 from Argos and i thought i was getting a good deal. It does come in a very fancy box and I cant fault the instructions. Style-wise it looks very good being a mixture of stainless steel, black plastic that feels good to touch and the clear plastic bowl and jug. The bowl and jug both have measurements on the front of them.

The blender can take up-to a litre but i have found it best to stick to 800ml or it'll struggle with things such as apples, carrots and sometimes even bananas. This is quite a failing for a blender. The main bowl is the same, it can take upto 1.4 Litres but it struggles with anything above a Litre. I think Kenwood should invest in some quality control for their appliances as this would have been enough to put me off Kenwood for life. They do make pretty good bread makers though so i would only avoid their food processors.

The three attachments that come with this are the coarse grating blade, the coarse slicing blade and chopping blade. The grating blade is OK in that it does a job that is average at best, the other two blades neither slice nor chop very well and you would need to use the machine for well over a minute to get anything passable from them, by which time the motor would have probably overheated and you would need to give it time to cool down.

The main reason people are going to buy this is for the chopping and the slicing and if it can't do that very well then whats the point. This is a big and bulky machine that is difficult to keep clean and takes up too much space for something that doesn't do very much, i would recommend a mini chopper and a stand alone liquidiser instead of this monstrosity.

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not something i would replace if it broke

I got this processor as a gift from my mum-in-law and thought it looked very sleek and stylish, so I can't really complain about how it looks. However the only thing I have found it really good for is the whisk; although I haven't made meringues in it yet I have got very good results with frosting and also getting cream cheese icing to stay stiff and not run. However the larger jug isn't nearly large enough to hold enough frosting for a single cake, or the cake mix for a single sponge so I often end up either overloading it or having to do two batches which isn't ideal with the amount I bake! Also there are only two speeds which is a disappointment. The only other thing I use it for now is grating carrots- I would like to use it for grating lemons and oranges but the in feed is not nearly large enough which is another one of its downfalls. I also found that it can only be used for chopping vegetables into a mush or a bit of mush with loads of big chunks of raw veg in it- there is no inbetween with this machine!

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Don't waste your money

Looks Amazing! But...

Well basically, it isn't... let me explain:

When you buy it, as I said, you think, oooh it looks amazing, it must be good if it looks this good! Yes it does look good, but when you begin to use it you'll realise that its really very weak. If you try to fill the containers to the max, you will find that it can only just about chop anything up, never mind liquidise it. Food seems to just get pushed out and up rather than get chopped. As another review states it also struggles with breadcrumbs!

Also, it only has ONE SPEED! so basically its either on, or off, or you can pulse it. a speed control would not cost them that much to have fitted, and would make the product just a bit better, and probably worth a look in, but as it is, just don't bother. buy something else.

A bit more noise dampening would make it more pleasant to use to. Its not exactly a Shuttle launch, but its certainly no whisper either.

On a positive, its easy to clean, and your essentially getting two products in one, although I'd recommend you buy them separate.

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Processor just didn't work well, so I returned it.

When I got this Kenwood Food Processor I thought I was getting a deal. On the package, it looks like an amazing product. It's a good size, looks very sharp and stylish, but not excessively "modern" and it has a liquidizer, which my previous food processor didn't have. Sounds really cool, unfortunately I could never get it to work properly. If you tried to fill it to anything over about half full, the liquidizer struggled and eventually failed. It mostly seem to push thing to the outside instead of liquidizing them. The stainless steel blade was sharp, but the motor didn't have the power need to actually process the food and what it does chop, it doesn't do with a consistent size. It couldn't even make bread crumbs, which should be easy for the even the simplest food processor. Worse yet, the whole unit would get hot if you put it through any kind of reasonable use. In the end, I took it back.

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Shiney but whiney, this blender has its problems

Ididdoo: Jump to the section you most need info on, or go for the whole hog! Enjoy!

...INTRODUCTION....When I bought this guy it came in a pretty sizable cardboard box, and when you open it up - you understand why! Its many versatile features means its size it pretty daunting, especially if you have a smaller family kitchen like mine. That being said, although sizable on the surface counter, i wouldn't have it any other way. Each part of the FP196 has been designed for function, and function it does...

...FEATURES...OpeningFirst things first - the packaging it comes in is great. No messing around with oodles of filling polystyrene all over the kitchen floor. Very simple, and straight to business.

CurvesKenwood clearly decided to go for substance over style on this one. Whilst not unsightly, the FP196 is more about what it does than how nice it makes the kitchen look. That being said, I quite like how it looks in my kitchen, with the familiar chrome shine fitting in with almost all of my other appliances with ease (chrome in the home it seems)So whilst it isn't going to grab points in the looks department, will it make up for it in the function area? Well, after I managed to figure this strange looking thing out - I found out!At first, I felt it a little daunted by it all. If you are only used to the standard "one jug" food processor (like mine before this one), there's a fair bit to check out. But not to worry, the instructions supplied are easy to follow and straight to the point.I spent literally two minutes reading them and was off for a test run!

Half fullFirst was the liquidiser, the largest section of the piece. In went the goods, but after a little time I realised, the goods weren't necessarily coming out again. When the liquidiser was dealing with small amounts, it was great - but anything over half way full, and I ran into problems getting anything completely smooth. And trust me, unwanted bumps and chunks don't sit well. So a 1 litre liquidiser quickly became a 0.5 litre load only. Not good.I tried several different items, and all the same outcome. When times get half tough (or more), the liquidiser just doesn't get going. Anything too taxing, and it even gets extremely hot.

Weight classThis thing is so light, it needs suction on the feet to stop it moving around in action. Give it a chance, and it'll take a free role all over your kitchen! For me, it wasn't too much of a problem due to the arrangement the FP196 found itself in in my kitchen (i.e. tucked tightly in the corner!)But you can never hide the noise of these things. And this one is even louder than my previous blender, especially when its struggling to keep up with the larger amounts of food.

EssentialsAt 600w power and with dishwasher safe parts, the FP196 follows suite here with most food processors. That being said, trying to drop a 1.4 litre bowl and an 800ml jug into the dishwasher after a full meal is a feat of engineering in itself! More often than not, I found myself washing it the old fashioned way to save valuable dishwasher space. The chopping blade is stainless steel and supposedly sharp as, well, a knife. But whilst sharp to the touch, it seems to struggle with power when it comes to lots of food.Safety interlocks and cable storage keep things a-ok with young families like mine. Although a retractable cord would have been a nice touch. A spatula and whisk come in tow, but I found myself never using them. In fact, they're still in the nice packaging it came in. Perhaps they can make friends with that little tool that nobody uses on the vacumm cleaner?

FP stands for Fantastic Price?At first I thought so. I found mine for £32, and I'm sure you can find it for a little better searching online. But what you get for the price ultimately isn't that impressive. Summary: Not great to look at, fairly large and bulky - and most unfortunately - not a great blend for your buck.